IN THE EXAMINATION ROOM

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 284, 20 August 1918, Page 6

IN THE EXAMINATION ROOM

PROBING THE EDUCATION SYSTEM'

REPORTS ON CANDIDATES' MATRICULATION WORI^

'I'ho following are extracts from the reports of the University examiners lor matriculation in 1917, lis for the information and guidance of teachers. 'I'hey are of interest as reflecting the impressions formed by the examiners of the general quality of the teaching imparted to the candidates. There will bo noted a singular consensus of opinion by practically ail thb examiners as' to the prevalence of inaccurate think-, ing and slovenliness of work which seems to call for some inquiry. In English, for example. "Taken as a whole the work submitted by the candidates, was poor in' quality, and tuo frequently slovenly in form . . . crowding two or more answers on the same page . ! . handwriting' all but illegible, and tho spelling weak . . . candidates not infrequently so careless that they misspelt even words printed on the paper .before them, writing 'primativo' for 'primitive,' 'origon' for 'origin,' 'devine' for 'divine.' To the uninitiated these may seem trivial faults. In reality they are grave faults. For the)- give clear indication of insufficient training in those habits of accuracy so essential for success in life. ■ 'essays there were very few that were strikingly good or strikingly bad. There were not many exceptions to tho rule tliat they were mediocre in style and quality.. Imagination was not entirely absent, but tho range of subjects provided led us to expect more of this quality than we actually found. We aro pleased to note the fact that mis-spelt words and flagrant breaches of accidence and syntax were uncommon, but on the other hand the punctuation as a whole was not good, and in somo cases, was exceptionally bad."

History and geography gave more satisfaction: "Tho history as a whole was good, and does not call for detailed notice. II we may be allowed to make remark it is that the term 'civil war' seems to be but very imperfectly understood. Jjy a grent many candidates. The geography was not so good as the hiSstory. It is clear that a majority of tho candidates have very little .conception of =tho tfse of a map. As a result there was an inexcusable amount of error in connection with the localising of places. Wo also found a lamentable amount of confusion in the use of the terms east and west.",, Tho comparative abaenco of formal grammar teaching in the schools—part of the policy of the Education Department in framing the public school syllabus in .English—no doubt has its results when pupils embark upon the study of other languages. Thus, in ,the Latin paper: "This .pajfcr was not'well done. Weakness was .apparent in all tho sections of th'o paper, but particularly in that dealing with grammar. There does not seem (o be anything liko the systematic and thorough training in grammar which used to be so characteristic of the teaching of Latin. This grammatical drill is sometimes stigma tiaed as 'gerund grinding,' but the modern revolt from what when unintelligontly curried out. whs art abuse is undoubtedly leading'' to carelessness and gross inaccuracy. It is oftcfi said that if less'time were devoted to tho study of mere gramma:' there-would be more time lor translating Latin, and that the knowledge of the language as a wh s ole would be improved. There were no signs of this in the translation of the two pieces of Latin set."

Slovenliness and inaccuracy •appeared alto in the French papers: "A few papers reached a high standard of excellence, but the general result ol®lhe examination was unsatisfactory, lwrsly 54 per cent, of Iho candidates passing. A largo number had evidently a very crude notion- of tho language, 'and wtm only waging time and trouble by entering. Tho fault that chiefly calls for comment is a general slovenliness a:ia inaccuracy that pervades the whole work of far too large a proportion of tlie candidates. They do not reiut what is before them, transposo ~wtls■■ and phrases out of their sentence, and do not give what they are asked for." And in the arithmetic papers: "A substantial proportion of tho candidates showed a satisfactory degree of facility in the application ot principles. Muck of the work, however, even when set out rtith commendable neatness, was marred .by inaccuracy of calculation. Ir. too imiVy 'instances also thero was presented ior the examiner's scrutiny mush matter, often very untidily set oiit, that flmui-i have been rticgnled io Hie scribUins paps of t!io examination book. Some failure, too, was attributable to careless reading of tiie examination queations, and by candidates' omission to ma.ka roi/gh preliminary mental calculations." V Although (ho examiners coiumend the '•«CMiui'and thorough teaching" that was evident fromabe papers in home scienco, "a good proportion" of the work sent in using "highly creditable both.for its all round character as well as for its good quality," stress is laid 011 this, however: "Scientific training is very incomplete if it concerns itself only with the acquisition of knowledge or, the investigation of facts; it must concern itself also with accurnto thinking and accurate and concise expression. The absence of I liese was marked; language was generally. loose."